071026 Maz2
Horses,  Riding Lessons

Maz and I did polo-crosse!!

7 October 2026 / 32 Comments

Hiya!!!! Today I had THE AWESOMEST lesson with Sophie and Maz, and Zion too!

First Sophie and I went and caught Maz and Zion, and although Maz was a little stubborn that’s a-ok because I didn’t have a leadrope or anything. Otherwise, he was great to lead, and then I started grooming him. Sophie said she had given him a bath the day before, but he was CAKED in mud, and my dandy brush was doing nothing, so I asked if I could borrow the shedding brush which is THE BEST brush in the world for hairy horses. She said yes, very kindly, and grooming him was a BREEZE after that. I picked out his hooves and brushed his mane, and then chose his saddlepad, put it on and put on his saddle. The girth was too small, but Sophie found another 130cm one (which is a super super big size, let’s just say Maz has gotten a bit plumper during his feasting time in the back paddock while Sophie and her family were away, hee hee!) which was so easy to do up, I hope it’s his new permanent girth! Then I popped on his bridle, gave him half a carrot for the road, and got on while Sophie finished saddling Zion.

Maz was a bit sluggish today and it was a little difficult to urge him on, but when we did find our rhythm, it was a lot lot better. Some of our trots felt like we were floating on air! Then I squeezed him into a canter, which he did AWESOMELY. His canter was quite speedy today, and a little bouncy, but I stayed on fine and couldn’t stop beaming! Then Sophie set up some small jumps, of which we trotted into nicely. Sophie reminded me to look UP, NOT DOWN because then Maz would look down and stop, and when I did that our jumps were a lot better. He was fab today! Then I cantered into the jumps, and I made a few mistakes, but he was a superstar and helped me through all of them. Then, I asked Sophie if we could raise the first jump, and she said yes! I brought Maz at a canter into it, and I hesitated and felt pretty nervous, and I didn’t squeeze him on, but like the incredible horse he is, he jumped it even though I was sitting there with a bewildered look on my face. It wasn’t pretty, but our second and third attempts at it were SO INCREDIBLE I CAN NOT EXPLAIN HOW AWESOME IT FELT. It felt like we were flying! The jump was 65 centimeters high, which is our new record together, and I’m so, so proud we cantered it! Sophie explained what a ‘hogs back’ is. I’ve heard that term in a few Showtym Adventures books, but never knew what it meant. A ‘hogs back’ is the name for a jump where the jump itself is high, but it has two smaller jumps in front of it. It’s for show hunter horses, made to develop their arch over the jump.

After the jumping I peppered Sophie with questions on Maz’s health history, because we’re planning to buy Maz and on-site graze him. I asked LOTS of questions which she kindly answered, and then (to Maz’s dissapointment) Sophie got out the polo-crosse rackets! They’re sticks with hoops on the ends and a net to catch the ball, and you race around throwing the ball to each other. Properly, you have goals, I think. It’s like horse-soccer. Anyway, I’ve tried it before on Maz and I was totally uncoordinated and to be honest, not very stable in the saddle, but today I was really confident, and I went cantering around with my racket and Maz trying to steal the ball from Sophie! Maz couldn’t really be bothered, but Zion was HYPED UP AND READY TO GO. It was so cute seeing him speed happily around with the racket! I much prefer being the one chasing than the one running and defending the ball. Maz wasn’t in a great hurry to run away from Sophie when we had the ball, and most often she got it because Maz was still working up the energy to walk forward haha! The polo-crosse was really fun, and I think once I’ve mastered the canter and gotten a bit better at steering it’ll be awesome tearing around with Sophie and Zi.

Then we stripped off their saddles and cooled them off bareback, and I trotted Maz bareback too. Once they were cool we took turns bathing the horses, and Maz stood rock-still even though he wasn’t too pleased about the cold water. Then he trotted off with his bridle still on while I went to turn off the hose. Luckily, he went into the stable, and actually, there was no where else he could’ve run BUT there anyway. I took off his bridle, fed him the other half of the carrot and took a few pictures, before mixing up the horses’ hard feeds and feeding them. I thanked Sophie for letting me come while she was away and you’ll never believe what she offered! She said I could come around anytime and hang out/ride with Maz just as long as Mum or Dad was with me! Yayyy!! Thank you sooooo much Sophie if you’re reading this!

That was my lesson with Maz today! I learnt lots of things, like the hogs back jumps, and looking UP when jumping myself and practised my canter, jumping and trot moderation, and of course, catching and racing with the polo-crosse rackets!

Thank you so much Sophie for having me today, for two and a half hours too!!, and thank you Maz for not bucking me off or refusing my super-dodgy jumps ♥️ Byeee!

071026 Maz1
071026 Maz3

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